Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(4)
I grimaced and then slowed my pace so we stopped by a small alcove, a little bit separate from the rest of the petitioners. “That awful lavender perfume she wears. It never covers up the smell of mold. You’d think they’d notice it on their clothes.”
He nodded and laughed. “It’s like they roll around in it, all four of them.”
I grimaced. “Mom wouldn’t like us bad-mouthing them.”
Tad pointed at me. “Mom’s not here. Unless you want her role of Judgy McJudger Pants today?”
My lips twitched and I laughed. “No, thanks. I’ll pass.”
My brother leaned back. “You know that Everett lit Uncle Robert’s hair on fire? On purpose while he slept in his chair. I watched him do it, couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
I spluttered, “He did not.” Then I amended, “When?”
“When he was about fifteen. Would have made me twelve.” Tad laughed. “That’s why Uncle Robert wears his hair long; it covers the burn mark on the back of his neck. After Everett lit his dad up, he tried to blow out the flames, but that only made it worse. Of course that lavender perfume shit acted like an accelerant.”
I couldn’t help the laughter; I could just see Everett frantic with his big bug eyes as he tried to put the fire out while Uncle Robert yelled at him. Dad’s side of the family was . . . well, it was hardly straitlaced. “You think that . . . with Dad being a Super Duper that Uncle Robert is too?”
Tad shrugged. “No, I doubt it. They had different fathers.”
That they did. But a part of me wanted to believe that Uncle Robert was a Super Duper too. Mostly because I didn’t want to be the only black sheep in the family. Okay, me and Tad, since Dad was in denial, but still the numbers were against us.
“Maybe we should go visit them.” I shifted my hands on the stack of papers.
“Alena, what the hell are you doing here?” Roger’s voice whipped me around so fast I slipped on the false tile floor. A few papers fell from my file folders and fluttered to the ground in between my husband and me. Soon to be ex-husband, if I had anything to say about it.
Roger had brown hair and soft brown eyes, and there had been a time when I’d thought he was the love of my life. Of course, that was before he’d turned out to be a total—
“Asshole,” Tad snarled, stepping between us. “You brought your girlfriend with you to your divorce proceedings? Really? How much of a douche canoe are you? Never mind, no need to answer that.”
I blinked and looked around my brother, recognizing the woman behind Roger. Bottle-blond hair and blue eyes, tiny waist and too-long nails, and a rack the size of my biggest mixing bowls. She was pretty, I would give her that. If you liked three layers of makeup and clothes that were tight enough to make you think they were likely painted on in places.
I smiled and kept my tone sweet, though it was a struggle. “Hello, Barbie, how am I not surprised you’re here? Making sure the money comes through to you? I mean, that is the only reason you’re with him, isn’t it?” Oh, there was more than a little sting in seeing her. Even though I wasn’t the mousy church girl I’d once been, the pain of knowing he’d chosen her over me—even before I’d gotten sick—still lingered.
Barbie’s baby-blue eyes narrowed so far I thought she might have closed them. “You’re a freak, and you’re going to get nothing. Because it’s the law, and Rog is in the right.”
A tiny piece of me cracked, and words escaped me before I could filter them.
“And you’re a whore who is sleeping with Roger to get my money and my house.”
Her eyes popped wide and Roger sucked in a sharp breath. Tad laughed. “Oh yeah, let her have it, sis. Both barrels—and go.”
I immediately regretted the words. Not because they weren’t true, but because they were mean. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
Roger grabbed at Barbie, clinging to her hand. “She loves me, Alena. I know because we were together long before you got sick, and she’s with me now when I’m in the fight for my life and future against a woman who obviously never really loved me.”
The hypocrisy of his words was not lost on me, but that he couldn’t even hear what he’d just said . . . how could anyone be so blind?
Tad’s jaw dropped, which was saying something, since he could unhinge it. I glared at him, and he pulled it together. “He . . . he . . .”
They stormed away as Tad spluttered for words. I stepped in front of Tad, blocking his way so he couldn’t go after them. When it came down to it, he would defend me, and I loved him even more for it. But this wasn’t the time or place.
“Let it go, Tad. This will be dealt with in court. Where a judge will see how much of a fool he is and how he doesn’t deserve anything, never mind everything.” I held my head high, even though I knew what I was saying was a long shot. No matter how ready Roger was to admit his infidelity, Super Dupers didn’t have the same rights as humans.
Hence the Wall between us, and usually the two separate justice systems. If it hadn’t been for the shambles of the Supernatural Division of Mounted Police at the moment, I wasn’t sure I’d even have this chance. So I was going to take it and run with it for all I was worth.
The sound of boots clattering on the floor turned everyone around, silenced the low buzz of chatter, and drew more than a few gasps. Four police officers walked in with a single figure between them, and while the officers looked good in their crisp uniforms, they weren’t the ones who drew the gasps, I was sure of it.